“keep the bastards honest”

The title caused a bit of a stir. I was even interviewed on the ABC a couple of times.

In the current political climate, I can’t resist drawing attention to it again.

Before I end this brief post I am going to seek a little support from one of the geniuses of my lifetime, TS Eliot. I want to share just a few lines from his remarkable pen. I’m referring to the wonderful verse drama Murder in the Cathedral.

Thomas Becket is not just being tempted to avoid losing an election. His choice is life or death – and a grim, brutal end with the second choice.

The first tempter offers the prospect of physical safety.

Take a friend’s advice. Leave well alone,

Or your goose may be cooked and eaten to the bone.

The second offers power, riches and fame in serving the King.

To set down the great, protect the poor,

Beneath the throne of God can man do more?

The third tempter suggests a coalition with the barons and a chance to resist the King.

Becket responds to all of the tempters and specifically addresses the immoral suggestions of the fourth tempter at the end of the first act:

Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain:

Temptation shall not come in this kind again.

The last temptation is the greatest treason:

To do the right deed for the wrong reason.

In all my reading down all these years I have never found a better explanation of current political life. So brief! So relevant! So never to be found in the “news” we are forced to imbibe every day in our present lives.